Join us as historian Kaya Şahin, author of Peerless among Princes: The Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman, and art historian Elizabeth Rodini discuss the sixteenth-century ruler, during whose reign the Ottoman Empire became a truly global power.
Süleyman presided over a multilingual and multireligious empire that promised peace and prosperity to its subjects while he clashed with the Catholic Habsburgs in Europe and the Shiite Safavids in the Middle East. His poetic output, his appearances during public ceremonies, his charity, and his patronage of arts and architecture enhanced his reputation as a universal ruler with a well-rounded character.
Behind that public façade, Süleyman led a complicated life. He grew up with an overbearing father whose legacy was an advantage and a burden. Defying established practice, he married a concubine named Hürrem whose love and affection became his true refuge. Toward the end of his life, facing both debilitating sickness and the agitations of his sons, he struggled to remain on the throne.
Peerless among Princes will be available for purchase in the Newberry Bookshop, and Dr. Şahin will sign books after the program.
Join us as Joan DeJean and Jack McCord use maps from the Newberry collection to recreate the European settlement of the vast territory in North America that the French named Louisiana, and to tell the story of one remarkable woman, Marie Baron.
On February 27, 1720, Marie Baron and 95 other female inmates who had been serving time in a notorious Parisian prison were abandoned on an uninhabited island off the Gulf Coast. Most of the women had, like Marie Baron, been falsely charged with “public prostitution.” Those who survived their deportation on a ship named La Mutine, “the Mutinous Woman,” forged such remarkable lives that their impact on this country continues, three centuries later. Their lives are recounted in Joan DeJean’s new book, Mutinous Women: How French Convicts Became Founding Mothers of the Gulf Coast.
In Louisiana, Marie Baron became a person of note and the wife of Jean François Dumont—a mapmaker responsible for many extraordinary maps in the Newberry collection. Dumont recorded events in Louisiana’s history that he himself had not witnessed but that his wife had, embedding her perspective into his vision of the European settlement of North America.
Join us as historian Kaya Şahin, author of Peerless among Princes: The Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman, and art historian Elizabeth Rodini discuss the sixteenth-century ruler, during whose reign the Ottoman Empire became a truly global power.
Süleyman presided over a multilingual and multireligious empire that promised peace and prosperity to its subjects while he clashed with the Catholic Habsburgs in Europe and the Shiite Safavids in the Middle East. His poetic output, his appearances during public ceremonies, his charity, and his patronage of arts and architecture enhanced his reputation as a universal ruler with a well-rounded character.
Behind that public façade, Süleyman led a complicated life. He grew up with an overbearing father whose legacy was an advantage and a burden. Defying established practice, he married a concubine named Hürrem whose love and affection became his true refuge. Toward the end of his life, facing both debilitating sickness and the agitations of his sons, he struggled to remain on the throne.
Peerless among Princes will be available for purchase in the Newberry Bookshop, and Dr. Şahin will sign books after the program.
This program will be held in-person at the Newberry. Free and open to all. Register in advance here.
Benjamin Britten’s comedic opera, Albert Herring, tells the story of an aristocratic lady who seeks a young, unmarried woman of unstained virtue to crown as her small town’s May Queen – only to discover that no maidens of the town meet her qualifications!
At this “Close-Up” event at the Newberry, Michael Pecak, Dame Jane Glover DBE, and Stephen Sposito from Chicago Opera Theater will discuss COT’s upcoming production of Albert Herring, the Newberry’s Stuart Fraser will draw connections with the library’s extensive opera-related collection, and COT singers will perform excerpts to illustrate points of the conversation.
A wine reception will begin at 5:30 pm. Also be sure to arrive early and register for the raffle where you can win two tickets to the opening night of Albert Herring!
Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Albert Herring, conducted by Dame Jane Glover and directed by Stephen Sposito, will run January 26 through 29.
Calligraphy evolved into a fine art practice in the mid-20th century, and it continues to be reimagined by artists today. To keep the art of beautiful lettering alive, it must be practiced.
Join us and the Chicago Calligraphy Collective for an interactive and family-friendly event focused on the history of handwriting. Enjoy demonstrations of different lettering styles, participate in hands-on lettering activities, and tour our current exhibition, A Show of Hands: Handwriting in the Age of Print. This event is open to writers of all ages.
The Chicago Calligraphy Collective is organized for the charitable and educational purposes of promoting the study, practice and appreciation of calligraphy in all its historical and present-day applications and strives to enhance public awareness and interest in the calligraphic lettering arts.
This event is part of the programming inspired by the Newberry exhibition A Show of Hands: Handwriting in the Age of Print, open September 9 through December 31, 2022.
Rob Fojtik is Vice President for Neighborhood Strategy at Choose Chicago, the city’s official tourism and convention promotion bureau. In this capacity, Rob oversees efforts to promote and support Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods to visitors from near and far. Programs include the award-winning Neighborhood Content Creator program that leverages resident-made digital content, and Chicago Alfresco, a $2.5 million placemaking initiative created in partnership with the Chicago Department of Transportation to transform public spaces into community plazas for outdoor enjoyment.
Before coming to Choose Chicago, Rob was a Senior Advisor to Mayor Lightfoot on economic development and international relations at City Hall, as well as LGTBQ+ affairs and the expanded outdoor dining program. In this role, he also worked to recommend and place over 150 civic leaders and residents onto City boards and commissions. Prior to government service in the Lightfoot administration, Rob ran her winning campaign in the crowded 2019 Chicago mayoral race as Chief of Staff. In past lives, Rob has worked as a public affairs manager for a Fortune 500 company downtown; had misadventures in management consulting, art sales, and personal cheffing; and spent time in Washington DC working for former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Rob also served a one-year appointment at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence as a policy advisor on Central and Eastern Europe. In this role, he was part of the NSC’s interagency process to develop a comprehensive sanctions regime on Russia as a consequence of its 2014 invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
After receiving his BA in Slavic Languages and Literature at Northwestern University, Rob lived and worked in the Czech Republic teaching English and tending bar before moving to Washington, D.C. to pursue a MA from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CERES). He enjoys cooking, learning foreign languages, hiking with his partner and their dog, and visiting Chicago’s many neighborhoods.
Paul Durica
Board Member
Dr. Paul Durica is the Director of Exhibitions at the Chicago History Museums and worked in a similar capacity at The Newberry Library. From 2015-2020, he served as the Director of Programs and Exhibitions with Illinois Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Prior to that he drew upon his work as a writer, researcher, and teacher to produce a series of free and interactive talks, walks, and reenactments focused on narratives from Chicago’s past that resonate with its present.
These public history programs led to collaborations with cultural institutions in the city such as the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Chicago History Museum, Newberry Library, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Chicago Cultural Center among others.
Each program made use of both his original research and the skills of the arts organizations, community groups, local businesses, and publications that acted as my partners. Some of these programs, such as the full-scale reenactment of the Haymarket Affair in 2011, involved recruiting and directing over 300 volunteers and 1,000 participants.
To produce these programs successfully, he wrote grants; managed budgets; generated web content; worked closely with program partners of varying sizes and resources; and identified, engaged, and sustained a diverse multi-generational audience.
Lynessa Rico
Board Member
Dr. Lynessa M. Rico is the Associate Chair of the Business Psychology Department at the The Chicago School of Professional Psychology Chicago campus. She is also a business mentor at 1871.
Lynessa is a results-driven Strategic Consultant with over 25 years of experience enabling leaders to meet strategic business objectives by identifying and aligning business growth opportunities with strategic direction of culturally diverse organizations. By leveraging her strategic experience in identifying and impacting business growth opportunities and maximizing profits in retail firms and higher education institutions, Lynessa leads workshops focused on the creative mindset, women’s entrepreneurship, emotional intelligence, and the value and application of design thinking within entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Her services also include consulting with and educating leadership on emotional intelligence, the power of design thinking and the creative mindset, and leadership styles to support inclusive, creative workplaces. She has presented to leadership and innovation teams in small, mid-size, and Fortune 500 companies.
Lynessa received her undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Management from Wichita State University. She then went on to earn a master’s degree in Business Administration from Wichita State University with a focus in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. After earning her master’s degree, Lynessa received her doctorate in Business Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology where she successfully completed her dissertation titled, “The Relationship Between Personality Types and Color Preference for Color Combinations.” Her current research interests include women’s entrepreneurship, design thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurship self-efficacy.
Outside of work and research, Lynessa enjoys mentoring start-ups and judging pitch competitions. Lynessa currently resides in Chicago, Illinois with her four cats. She is an avid long-distance runner, having completed 5 full marathons (and counting), and enjoys watching musical theater.
Briana Thomas
Board Member
Briana Thomas is the Museum Associate at the Abrahamic Center for Cultural Education (a core member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance). She wears many hats including developing exhibition content, facilitating community programs (children and adults), liaising with visitor artists, and other responsibilities. Her previous experience in the nonprofit space includes her tenure as the Financial Empowerment Coordinator at AMERICORPS Sharing Life Center as well as engaging with the public at the Dallas Arboretum. Her past professional experience has remained rooted in marginalized communities. It is their needs,discourse and histories that she has routinely been tasked with protecting and showcasing in the face of poor infrastructure, and willing ignorance. Creating safe spaces is an ancestral practice she has inherited.
